Former AMD boss Hector Ruiz has emerged from the shadows as a force lobbying the Democrat administration to build the computer chip factory in Saratoga County, New York.

State ethics and lobbying disclosures show that Ruiz and his firm, Advanced Nanotechnology Solutions Inc hired the Syracuse law firm Hiscock & Barclay in April 2012, paying the firm $89,094 in 2012 and $9,005 in 2013. According to the Albany Times Union New York State governor Andrew Cuomo announced the creation of Nano Utica on Oct. 10, 2013 at the SUNY IT campus outside of Utica, a $1.5 billion computer chip research and development program that is expected to generate 1,000 new jobs.

The NanoCollege in Albany has since received approval to merge with SUNY IT, and the NanoCollege owns a 400-acre site next to the SUNY-IT campus that the state has set aside for computer chip manufacturing. Ruiz was the major corporate backer of the Nano Utica consortium, which will focus on computer chip “packaging” technologies such as 3D chip stacking and other new ways to make different chips work better together in devices.

Former AMD CEO Hector Ruiz has offered the next Intel CEO a few tips to keep Intel on top of the world. While most of them make quite a lot of sense, they are coming from Ruiz, whose tenure at AMD remains controversial to this day.

In an article published in Businessweek, Ruiz argues that Intel is no longer the company it was a decade ago, when it could use its dominant position to sway practically every aspect of the computing market in its favour. It is now seeing quite a bit of pressure from ARM chips, which power the vast majority of phones and tablets on the market.

His first word of advice is to remind the world that Intel is still in the computing business and to point out that tablets are merely an extension of PCs, based on different processors.

“There is no reason to let the media, Wall Street, or anyone else define Intel as purely a PC technology company,” wrote Ruiz. This is a good point, which was apparently lost on Intel.

His next tip might be a bit more controversial. Ruiz believes Intel should split its businesses and move toward becoming a portfolio company, with a big data business, PC business and a mobile business. He argues that Intel’s superior manufacturing capability would ensure success for the restructured businesses.

Next up – "don’t wait". Intel had the capacity to conquer the mobile market years ago, but it hesitated and opened the door to potential challengers. Ruiz points out that Motorola made the same mistakes and squandered the value it spend decades generating.

“Wall Street and the media may declare that the PC market is dead or that mobile is the future. The truth is that computing, in all its evolving forms, remains and will remain king,” said Ruiz. “The products consumers want will change whenever the industry innovates and offers something new and better. Intel should make its mission continuous innovation in computing of all kinds.”

AMD's former Chief Executive Officer Hector Ruiz has opened a consulting company, aiming to win business by touting his experience in leading strategy and transactions.

We guess he will not be mentioning tablets and mobile computing which is the reason that AMD's board asked him to clear his desk. We guess he would also be an expert on Insider-trading as he recently was a witness for the prosecution of Raj Rajaratnam, co-founder of Galleon.

Rajaratnam said that Ruiz was a source of information on transactions by AMD that were then used as the basis of insider trades. Ruiz was never charged with any crime.

Ruiz's company is called Bull Ventures and it has been formed with another AMD bloke Bharath Rangarajan. None of them has commented about the move, but forming the company appears to be Ruiz’s return to business.

According to the company website, Bull Ventures aims to provide advice to companies who want to “grow from good to great.” The company says it helps corporate management teams develop and execute “industry changing strategies.”